Christian vloggers Sam and Nia Rader have announced a new pregnancy, thrilling their thousands of YouTube followers.
The couple, whose channel has nearly 360,000 subscribers, had refrained from posting for several weeks following a series of controversies involving Sam Rader. He was ejected from a vloggers conference after reportedly threatening another participant. It was also revealed that he had an account with adultery website Ashley Madison, for which he later apologised.
Sam and Nia are high school sweethearts from Texas who state on their Facebook page that they "have a great time living for God" and "vlog it all". The couple shot to fame after posting a video in which Sam surprised Nia with the news of her own pregnancy. Days later they announced that she had suffered a miscarriage. The videos were widely questioned, with critics accusing them of faking the pregnancy for publicity purposes.
Sam said then: "The un-acceptance that this world has shown our family has actually been a blessing to me. Let me explain. It seems as though the media out there, all the articles being written about us, are trying to put us in a bad light for the most part. And I feel like those are the ones that represent the world. And it makes me think of the verse John 15:19: If you are of the world, the world will love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chose you from the world, the world hates you."
He said God had told them they were going to be hated, so what they were seeing was God's will being played out in their lives as Christians. "We're being persecuted somewhat."
This was a good thing, he said. "This is what God told us is going to happen, so I can't help but let it excite me. Every time I read these articles, not a single article has got me down. In fact, I'm laughing about them, for the most part. It's just like this huge reminder that God chose our family, so we're getting this hatred. That's just what comes with being a Christian and being a God-filled family."
The latest video posting, entitled "Son Shocks Mom With Pregnancy Announcement," reveals that Nia is about eight weeks pregnant.
"We feel beyond blessed that God has given us another baby so soon after suffering a miscarriage," the couple wrote on their YouTube page. "I think our moms were just as thankful."
